‘We have lost a character’

Town feeling loss of Nichols Bus patriarch Charlie Nichols, 90

EAST HAMPTON — Charlie Nichols, whose name was synonymous with school buses in town for 70 years, died Wednesday. The owner of Nichols Bus Service was 90. Over seven decades, generations of children in East Hampton and a number of surrounding communities rode his buses to and from school.

News of his death was met with regret by a wide range of residents.

“Personally and professionally, Charlie is going to be sorely missed,” Town Council Chairwoman Melissa H. Engel said Thursday. “You can certainly say we have lost a character,” she added.

“Charlie will be missed! Charlie had a huge heart and a deep abiding love for East Hampton. His decades of public service to East Hampton are unmatched and will leave a tremendous void in our community. I will miss him so,” said former council Chairwoman Patience R. Anderson.

“He was an icon on East Hampton,” former assistant superintendent of schools and present Town Councilor Kevin Reich said Thursday. “Charlie lived ‘the American Dream.’ He worked hard and he became very successful, but he was always willing to give back to the community.”

“It’s a helluva loss,” Town Meeting Moderator Robert “Red” McKinney said. “He’s a guy I literally have known my whole life. He used to take me to school — just like his mother did before that, when she drove me to school in her station wagon. He was a great guy, and he always seemed to find a way to get things done.”

McKinney reeled off the list of municipal boards and commissions on which Nichols had served, including Board of Selectmen, Board of Police Commissioners, the Zoning Board of Appeals and any number of building committees.

“He just gave back, and he was the right guy to do these things. He’d always find a way to get these things done,” McKinney added.

Nichols grew up driving a school bus. He bought his first bus at 16, according to a 2013 profile of him that appeared on the School Bus Contractors website.

The profile was written by East Hampton Public Schools Administrative Assistant Linda Miner.

Well into his 80s, Nichols continued to drive a bus.

He was “a character — an interesting and unique character,” Engel said, adding she had known him for years. “He was ‘buds’ with my dad,” she said, and was at times “hysterical and colorful. Things are not going to be the same without him.

“He was a huge character and a huge presence in East

Hampton. His life is never going to be replicated,” Engel added. “We had a very good working relationship. I must have negotiated four or five contracts with Charlie, and he just worked very well with me.”

That relationship eventually carried over into their personal lives as well, Reich said. “He was a very special man. He was very good to the family,” especially when Reich’s wife became ill, he added.

More than a vendor to the town, Nichols immersed himself in service to the town, Reich said.

Along with his wife Marie, Nichols “would very quietly give back to the community. He was a devoted member of the Lions Club, and for decades, he served on the Zoning Board of Appeals,” Reich said.

One key to Nichols’ success — both in business and while serving town government — was because “He showed respect to all others and to their opinions,” McKinney said.

“Every Friday nights for years, at what now is the Liberty Bank, but back then was Barton’s parking lot, he would pick kids up and take them in buses to the Holiday Rink in Middletown where they would roller skate,” he added. “And then he would bring them back — and he never charged them a thing. And he did it every Friday night for years.”

Quietly, never publicizing his efforts, Nichols would offer a helping hand, or a pat on the back, or sometimes even cash to someone who was having a problem, McKinney said. “He was fair and he was always there to help, and he never had his hand out for a thing. He was quite a guy actually — but he was no soft touch,” he added

“It’s a sad day for East Hampton,” said former Police Chief Matthew A. Raimondo.

“Charlie was bigger than life itself,” realtor Christopher G. Burt said.

A lifelong Democrat, Nicholas “was an extremely good friend with Gov. William O’Neill, McKinney said.

Burt concurred. “Charlie was the last of the ‘true’ Billy O’Neill gang.”